ACCENTOR RUBECULOIDES, Moore.

Red-breasted Accentor.

Accentor rubeculoides, Moore in Proc. of Zool. Soc. 1854, p. .—Horsf. Cat. of Birds in Mus. East Ind. Comp.,
Olena Ol:

 

Tuts is another of the many rare species which have been transmitted to this country from Nepaul by
Mr. Hodgson: in applying the term “rare” to this bird, I consider I am justified, when I state that the two
examples in the Museum of the Hon. East India Company are all that we have yet seen. It differs
remarkably in the colouring of its plumage from every other known species, and belongs to that section of
the Accentors to which the term Tharrhaleus has been given by Dr. Kaup, with the Hedge Accentor as the
type. Of its habits and manners nothing is at present known, but I may venture to predicate that whenever
we become acquainted with them, they will very closely resemble those of its near ally.

The markings of the two specimens above mentioned are very similar, but the rufous colourmg of the
breast is much deeper in one than in the other: this may be due to age, sex, or the seasons at which they
were respectively killed.

Forehead and crown brown; throat and sides of the neck brownish-grey; lores speckled with greyish-
white ; upper surface reddish-brown, with a streak of blackish-brown down the centre of each feather ; wings
brown, margined with reddish-brown, and faintly spotted with greyish-brown at the tips of the coverts, forming
two obscure broken bands across the wing; tail brown with lighter margins; across the breast a broad band
of rusty-red, which colour extends over the flanks; centre of the abdomen buffy-white, the buffy tint
increasing in depth towards the under tail-coverts, which are buff with a dark central streak ; bill blackish-
brown ; feet reddish flesh-colour.

The figures are of the natural size.

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